Coffee in College

While college is a time of great learning, it’s hardly a time for making wise decisions. Countless college students every year drink more alcohol than their bodies can handle, but then there’s caffeine addiction. Even the best students sometimes only get through the days of cramming in the library or finishing up online college classes in cave-like dorm rooms by relying on coffee. Many college students drink coffee not only because it tastes good but because that caffeine boost is a necessity to keep them going.

Targeting College Students

40 billion dollars are spent on coffee every year and 54 percent of Americans are regular coffee-drinkers. A large percentage of those addicts are college students.

Do you think that’s coincidence? It’s not. As with every industry, coffee companies spend immense sums each year on marketing and ways to improve sales. College students are an easy solution. A Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, or local coffee place near campus is sure to draw students in because it’s nearby, on the way to class, and an easy way to get the essential caffeine kickstart students often can’t do without. Some colleges even have deals with select coffee companies that allow the company to operate on campus, making it even easier for students to get their fix.

Coffee: Select the Preferred Jump Start to the Day

With all its many varieties and forms and the opportunity to make them higher in caffeine with shots of espresso or sweeter with caramel, chocolate, or other syrups, coffee has something for everyone. Coffee-drinkers can use coffee to express who they are as individuals as well as using it to boost energy and stay awake. Both of these qualities make it an appealing habit to college-age youth.

It’s the easiest solution to any college student’s problem, from an overworked class load to poor time management. While this is true of many people, college students have easy access to coffee and rely on it to get through the day, sometimes every day, every week, every month of the school year. Though coffee is a fairly benign addiction, really excessive overuse does have it’s consequences.

Risks of Drinking Coffee

Coffee in and of itself isn’t a harmful beverage. Various studies have shown coffee is high in fiber and antioxidants, can improve memory, reduce fatigue, prevent Type-2 Diabetes, improve mood, and even improve handwriting. However, anything in excess can cause problems.

Students who face deadlines often drink too much coffee, as in a few pots of black coffee brewed in their dorm room while they frantically type their ten-page paper due for an 8:00 AM class. This kind of coffee overdoes can cause heart palpitations, mental confusion, nervousness, upset stomach, and fever. In the long term, drinking high doses of coffee can cause acid reflux, anxiety, breast cysts, delusions, depression, sleep disorders, and stomach ulcers.

As with most anything else, the key for college students when it comes to drinking coffee is to drink in moderation. Drinking a whole pot of coffee while working on a paper can cause seriously unpleasant health problems. Even drinking a pot of coffee over the course of a day can be unhealthy. Instead, students should consider limiting their coffee intake to a cup or two a day and find other ways, such as caffeine-free herbal tea, to help supplement their much-needed boost.

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Marina Salsbury planned on becoming a teacher since high school, but found her way instead into online writing after college. She writes all around the Web about everything from education to exercise.

Category: Coffee Thoughts